Apparatus for distillation



June 12, 1928.

1,673,238 H M. GODSEY APPARATUS FOR DISTILLATION Filed July 1923 ca/mtwaffi Patented June 12, 1928.

UNITED STATES H. MITCHELL GODSEY, 0F SHREVIPOBT, LOUISIANA.

APPARATUS FOR DIETILLATION.

Application filed July 9,

My invention relates to the distillation of liquids which will not appreclably absorb the products of combustion from a furnace or suffer material damage or contamlnat on on coming in contact therewith It relates more particularly to the distillat on of petroleum oils for refining and separation, and the pro vision of a safe and economical means for producing high temperatures in the o1ls and vapors for the purpose of cracking high boiling point oils into gasoline and other lower boiling point. fractions.

Heretofore practically all distillation, especially in the petroleum industry, has been carried on by the application of heat from furnace gases through metal heatlng surfaces resulting in a loss of a large percentage of the available heating value of the fuel, damage to the apparatus, and in the case of cracking processes, a constant source of danger to life and property due to the high pressuresusually necessary in order to carry them-on.

The apparent economy and relative safety that is possible in the applicatlonof direct contactheat transfersuccessfully 1n the refining of petroleum has caused some attempts to be made to utilize the full heating value of fuels by passing the hot products of combustion from a furnace into direct contact with the liquids to be distilled, usually by forcing combustion in a closed chamber under pressure. I

My invention has for its ob ect the PIOVI- 'sion of'an apparatus by which this result may be produced positively, safely and economically.

My invention provides lncldentall for d1 s tilling under vacuum, but as this eature is well known and has been practiced heretofore, no novelty is claimed for it in itself, but in combination with the other features it is a necessary adjunct to the successful operation of the apparatus and process as a whole.

In the accompanying drawings- Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic elevation of one I form of apparatus for carrying out my invention.

Referring to the drawing l 1s a furn for burning fuel and into which projects the end of a gas or oil burner 2. A stack 3 leads from the furnace 1 into a still 5 and to the end of the stack withinthe still 5 is 1923. Serial No. 650,549.

acts of combustion from the furnace 1 into the liquid in the still 5. A pipe 4 leads into and terminates within the stack 3 and through this pipe 4 gas or steam may be discharged into the gases passing through the stack. A tower or fractionating column 7 is disposed above the still 5 and is in open communication therewith. A pipe 8 connects the top of the fractionating column 7 with a header of large dimensions 9 for distributing the gases and vapors arising from the tower 7 to a condenser 10 having coils arranged in multiple therein. A pipe 20 connects the condenser 1.0 with a branched pipe, one branch 11 of which leads to a gas exhauster 12, while the other branch 13 leads to a liquid sealing device or trap 14. A pump 15 is. provided for introducing the charging fluid to thetop of the tower 7 through a pipe 16, which latter pipe ends in the top of the tower in some suitable spraying device 17. V

In operation fuel is burned in the furnace which is of a high grade of, construction and designed with a view to excluding all air except that which is needed for combustion urposes. Natural gas is preferably used or fuel where it can be obtained cheap- 13 on account of its ease of control, and this is burned preferably in a burner of the premixingblower or blast type in order to control accurately the amount of air needed for complete combustion, which is supplied according to carbon dioxide analyses of the stack gases in a ratio of air to fuel verging on the production of carbon monoxide so as to minimize or avoid the combustion of any of the oil vapors by the combination of the oxygen of the excess air. with them. Some inert gas, or steam from the boiler, or exhaust steam from the charging pump or other equipment may be admitted through pipe 4 to the stack gases to dilute and reduce the temperatures of these somewhat when such action is desired, although the temperature of the gases may be controlled in most cases by the amount and rapidity of combustion in the furnace. The gas exhauster 12 is started immediately in advance of the firing of the furnace and a vacuum is created thereby on the entire system. The vacuum is first created in the branch pipe 11 and in branch pipe 13 which is sealed from the atmosphere by the liquid seal 14. The liquid in the pipe 13 rises to a height of column corresponding to the vacuum created and maintained. The vacuum is then produced in the condenser 10, header 9, pipe 8, tower 7 and in the space above the liquid in the still 5. The vacuum in these isincreased until the gas present in the stack 3 is drawn through the spraying device 6 into the still 5 and a vacuum is thus created in the stack 3 and in the furnace 1 just sufficient to maintain perfect combustion in the latter and corresponding to the usual draft ordinarily produced naturally in a furnace by a stack.

0n firing the furnace I this vacuum action results in a movement of the hot products of combustion from the furnace into the still through the liquid therein, up through the tower 7 and into the condenser 10. The vapors from the still 5 resulting from contact of the liquid therein with the hot combustion products are entrained with the latter and drawn with them into the condenser 10 where they condense and flow in the liquid state into branch pipe 13 wherein they tend to build up the column of liquid. This results in an overbalancing of the force of vacuum exerted therein by the gas exhauster 12 and forces liquid out of the seal 14' to the means provided to collect it. The cooled products of combustion, consisting for the most part of carbon dioxide and nitrogen with the entrained non-condensable gases from the liquid are drawn through the branch pipe 11 to and through the exhauster 12 and are expelled to the atmosphere or to some means for collecting them if this latter action is desired.

The apparatus illustrated may be made to 'operate continuously by simply providing means for drawing ofi the heavier bottoms from the still 5.

It is obvious from the foregoing that my apparatus and process are not limited to the distillation of petroleum products alone. It is also obvious that the apparatus may be masses varied somewhat in detail; for instance, the fractionat-ing tower on the still may be dis pensed with altogether or placed over the condenser box which is the usual practice in some cases. it is also adapted to be applied to existing atmospheric or pressure stills with simple changes or rearran ements of present apparatus. is, therefore, to be understood that the specific lay-out or arrangement as illustrated need not necessarily be strictly adhered to in all cases, as it sim' ply shows one form apparatus adapted for carrying out my invention and no limitations are therefore intended other than those imposed by the appended claim,

' I claim,

In distilling apparatus, a furnace, a still, a fractionating column, a condenser means for charging oil into the top of said fractionating column through which it may descend into the still, means connecting the furnace and the bottom of the still and terminating in a spraying device from which the hot gases of combustion from the furnace are charged into the oil in the still, means connecting the top of the fractionating tower and the condenser for delivering the gases and vapors emerging from the fractionating column to the condenser, a receptacle for the distillate from the condenser, a vertically disposed pipe connecting the condenser with the receptacle for the distillate terminating slightly above the bottom of said receptacle andclosed to the atmosphere by the distillate in said receptacle, an outlet for the distillate in the upper part of said receptacle and a gas exhauster connected with the upper end of said vertical pipe for maintaining a condition of vacua throughout the apparatus andv for maintaining-a constant head of distillate H1 said vertical pipe.

H. MITCHELL GODSEY. 

